BJP income rises by 81.18%, Congress's dips 14%
New Delhi, April 10: The income of the BJP increased by 81.18 per cent to Rs 1,034.27 crore while that of the Congress decreased by 14 per cent to Rs 225.36 crore between 2015-16 and 2016-17, a report released on Tuesday said.
According to the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) report, seven national parties -- the Bharatiya Janata Party, Congress, Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M), Communist Party of India (CPI) and Trinamool Congress -- have declared a total income of Rs 1,559.17 crore and expenditures of Rs 1,228.26 crore.
The report, based on the submissions made to the Election Commission, compared the total income of the BJP and Congress, their expenditure and sources of income.
"Between 2015-16 and 2016-17, the income of BJP increased by 81.18 per cent (Rs 463.41 crore) from Rs 570.86 crore to Rs 1034.27 crore while the income of the Congress decreased by 14 per cent (Rs 36.20 crore) from Rs 261.56 crore to Rs 225.36 crore," it said.
The BJP had declared expenditures of Rs 710.057 crore during 2016-17 while Congress incurred Rs 321.66 crore -- Rs 96.30 crore more than its total income.
The report said that both the parties have declared "donations/ contributions" as one of their three main sources of income.
"The grant/ donations/ contributions of Rs 997.12 crore declared by the BJP forms 96.41 per cent of the total income of the party during 2016-17. Declaration of Rs 115.644 crore under revenue from issuance of coupons by the Congress forms top most income of the party, contributing 51.32 per cent of its total income during the fiscal," it added.
The report said that the seven national parties collected a maximum of 74.98 per cent (Rs 1,169.07 crore) income from voluntary contributions for 2016-17.
Voluntary contributions accounted for 60 per cent (Rs 616.05 crore) of their income in the previous fiscal.
These parties received Rs 128.60 crore income in bank interest in the same fiscal.
The release said that the due date for submission of annual audited accounts for the parties was October 30, 2017, but the BJP submitted its report on Februray 8 and Congress on March 19.
The ADR said the BJP, Congress, NCP and CPI have consistently delayed submitting their audit reports for the past five years.
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Trinamool MP Yusuf Pathan declines government's Operation Sindoor delegation invite
Kolkata: Trinamool Congress MP Yusuf Pathan, who was named by the government to join an all-party parliamentary delegation for the 'Operation Sindoor' diplomatic outreach, is reportedly set to skip the initiative.
The government included his name without consulting the Trinamool Congress, although the government had reached out to the MP directly, India Today quoted party sources as saying.
The former cricketer-turned-politician has conveyed that he will not be able to join the delegation.
According to the report, Pathan was invited to be part of the team led by JD(U) MP Sanjay Jha, which is set to visit Indonesia, Malaysia, Japan, South Korea, and Singapore as part of the government's diplomatic mission.
Objecting to the Centre's choice of MP to represent the Trinamool Congress, the party's National General Secretary Abhishek Banerjee questioned, “How can the Union Government decide on the representative of Trinamool?” He added that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) should have held discussions with the opposition to decide which representative a party will send.
Meanwhile, a senior Trinamool Congress leader pointed out that foreign policy comes under the Union government’s domain and it should take complete responsibility of such matters.
"We believe that the nation is above all, and we pledged our support to the Union government to take whatever action needed to protect our great nation. Our armed forces have made our nation proud and we are forever indebted to them. Foreign policy is entirely within the domain of the Union government. Therefore, let only the Union government decide our foreign policy and take complete responsibility for it," the TMC leader said.
The government recently announced that seven all-party delegations will be sent to key partner countries, including members of the UN Security Council, later this month to convey India's message of zero tolerance against terrorism.
A statement by the Parliamentary Affairs Ministry said, "The all-party delegations will project India's national consensus and resolute approach to combating terrorism in all forms and manifestations. They would carry forth to the world the country's strong message of zero tolerance against terrorism."
